Ascension, May 20, 2007                 Susan Langle

Hello Forever, Good Bye for Now

Today we find ourselves in the season of the end of the beginning.  We have sung Alleluia for weeks.  We stood in awe at the open tomb, wondering what comes next.  We have heard the testimonies of those who have seen, and touched and eaten with Jesus.  We have encountered Resurrection in our own lives, in the world around us, and yet, and yet the damp chill lingers.  We are at the time of graduations and weddings.  Of packing boxes and forwarding mail.  Living in hope of a future seen dimly.  What comes next?

We are reminded that Gospel, the Good News of the Incarnate God and the story of the birth of the Church are one story.  Luke's Gospel ends just as the Book of the Acts of the Apostles begins.   From the first pages of the Gospel, the Annunciation of Emmanuel to Zechariah, the aged priest in the temple, and the visit of the Holy Messenger to the Maid of Nazareth, to the last gathering on the hillside at Bethany,  the ones willing to see, willing to follow are blessed and commissioned for their essential roles in the unfolding of God's love.    Just as the shepherds watched the night skies, so the apostles gaze up and hear the Holy Messengers:  Be not afraid, Jesus will come again.  Meanwhile, you have work to do.

You are witnesses.  You are to bear witness.  By your mouth, repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed. You are the announcer, and the announcement and the proof.  The word became Flesh, not text.  In your flesh is the reality of God's loving presence in the world.  In your bodies, your hearts and hands, in your anger and tears, your passion and your power, in you (Susan, Jim, Joan, Alice, Amy, Jeff, Ann, Steve) in you is the Church which is Christ's body.  This body, Christ's body, Christ's church is fullness of him who fills all in all.  Full of gifts, full of abundance, full of possibility, full of promise.   To those gathered on the hillside for a last goodbye, and to us,  Jesus says:  stay together in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high. 

You have no capacity to withstand the cold, the subtle and overt pressures to conform to the oppressive power structures of this world unless you stay together.  There is no place to hide.  You are city people.  Your fate is tied to the fate of your neighbors.  You can't love your neighbors if you don't see their suffering, their needs all around you.  You cannot do your work under your own steam, no matter how many degrees you have, no matter how much you have squirreled away in your investments, in your endowments.  Only the power from on high can get you where you are going.  Maybe you will receive a white hard hat, or superman cape, or a Kevlar vest, or a prayer shawl.  Do not be afraid, you will get what you need.  Listen to where the spirit is leading you and do not be afraid to wrap yourselves in the spirit's power and prepare to do a new thing.

And don't be afraid if you don't know where exactly, your mission will take you.  A congregation of faithful people has been gathering on this corner for a long, long time.  You are the heirs of those faithful witnesses, called to use what their generous hearts has passed down for the glory of God and the good of God's people.  You are not expected to keep a museum open.  You are expected to be a living household of faith where the bread is warm for those who knock.  You do this in so many ways.  Vacation Bible School.  The best coffee hour.  Playful liturgy.  Candle lit Thursday nights.  Easter Egg hunts.  With Violin and drum and bell.  Praying and working for peace in the Holy Places, among God's beloved people of Israel and Palestine.   And you shape the church to come through your ministry to new pastors, forming them into Good Shepherds.  Blessed are you who see gifts for ministry and draw them out and help them to sing. 

I see you, Jesus people, you followers on The Way who know how to say hello forever, and goodbye for now.  Your welcome is warm, personal.  You weave delicate and strong loving threads to tether your beloved sons and daughters who go forth from this table to other tables, other communities.  Like the earliest Christians you send pastors to carry greetings and support to the Saints in need, and write love poems to those far away.  As I take my leave of you today it is with tears, and joy, and thanksgiving, knowing that your love goes with me.

And I pray to God , with the writer of the Ephesians we heard today, for you, Dear People of Watertown: 

I have seen your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not hesitate to give thanks for you as I remember, and will remember, you in my prayers. 

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father and Mother of glory, may give you each, and give you all,  a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know God more fully, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which God has called you, what are the riches of Gods glorious inheritance among the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of God's power for us who believe.

      AMEN